New York City moves 9/11 attack victims' remains to Ground Zero, sparking protests from some families

Updated
Sun May 11 08:26:27 EST 2014

Photo

Some family members of victims protested the move.

Reuters: Eric Thayer

Thousands of unidentified remains of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York City have been transferred to Ground Zero.

The 7,930 fragmentary remains in sealed containers were escorted by fire, police and port authority vehicles with flashing lights and no sirens from a Manhattan forensics lab to the repository at the site of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.

The repository will be under the care of the city's chief medical examiner, whose office will continue trying to match the fragments to the more than 1,000 victims of the attacks who have yet to have any remains identified.

It is sealed off from exhibition areas by a wall and will only be accessible to the medical examiner's staff and family members of the victims, who will be able to visit the space even when the museum is closed, the city has said.

Some family members of those killed in the attacks protested the move, saying it was wrong to store the remains at what is essentially a tourist site, adding that the underground repository could be subject to flooding.

They put black bands over their mouths in a silent protest as the procession rolled past.

Jim McCaffrey lost a family member in the attacks and said relatives should have been consulted.

"I think the decision to put the human remains of the 9/11 dead in the basement of the 9/11 museum is just inherently disrespectful and totally offensive," he said.

"Equally disgraceful is the fact that family members, through this whole process, have had virtually no input as to how the remains of their loved ones would be interred."